If you like to record checks before they clear your bank, you can record them directly from the Ledger. You can view your outstanding checks balance at any time to know which checks you’ve written but have not yet posted to your bank.

Once recorded, you’ll see the check appear on both your Ledger and the Accounts tab as a recorded check.

Recording a check indicates that you expect payment to be deposited to your Ledger in the future. When that happens, there will be a transaction on your Ledger that represents the payment, either in the exact amount or sometimes as part of a larger deposit amount in the case of check bundles.

“Clearing” a payment is the process of linking your recorded check payment to the posted withdrawal or deposit. Doing this will reduce the balance of your Undeposited Checks or Outstanding Checks account and link the payment in your ledger to the invoice or bill you recorded the check on.

Once the check clears the bank account, you can clear the recorded check by following these steps:

If your bank account isn’t connected to Ambrook, you have two ways to record and clear checks you've sent out.

If you want to clear it immediately:

If you want to clear it later: record the check status as Pending. When the payee deposits the check, go back to the transaction, click the dropdown arrow next to Clear Check, and choose Record withdrawal transaction to clear it.

You have a few different ways to view and manage your checks in Ambrook. Using the Filter menu at the top of your screen, you can customize your view based on the check status or type.

To see which checks still need to be cleared:

To see a full list of all checks you've recorded (whether cleared or not):

This gives you a quick way to scan which checks still need to be cleared and see an overview of all checks in your books.

You can also record a check or an expected payment directly on a bill or invoice to keep everything clearly linked. This immediately ties the payment to what it’s for, making it easier to track what’s been paid. If you record a payment from the Ledger instead, it won’t be connected to a bill or invoice by default but you can still match it manually after it’s created. Either approach works—just use the one that fits best with your workflow.

If the payment already exists in your ledger, you should match it to the corresponding invoice or bill to properly associate them.

You should record a payment when money has been sent or received, but the transaction isn’t yet reflected in the ledger. For example, if you write a check that hasn’t been cashed yet, you’ll want to record the payment. This updates your accounts payable (AP)—you’ve already paid, so you no longer owe the recipient. Recording payments ensures your accounts receivable (AR) and AP are accurate and up to date.

Recording a payment on a Bill or Invoice will mark it as paid, reducing your Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable. In the case of checks and expected payments, these will be recorded as balances on system accounts [1] that Ambrook generates for you:

See more details: Matching payments to invoices

Say you have an invoice in Ambrook that is past due, but your customer recently visited the farm and handed you a check. You won’t have a chance to make it to the bank in the next week or two, but you want to make sure you can mark the invoice as paid. Otherwise your AR manager might reach out to your customer asking them for payment even though you already have the check.

In this case, you would record the check you were handed as a payment on the invoice, noting the date you received the check as well as the check number. When you later deposit that check in your bank (or using Ambrook's mobile deposit) and you see it on your Ledger, you will return to the invoice and go through the clearing process.

[1] Several of the accounts referenced above are Ambrook System Accounts, meaning their balances are updated automatically when you take actions like recording transactions and clearing payments. For more information on system accounts read here.

Q: What’s the difference between recording a check and creating a bill?

A: Recording a check logs a payment you’ve already made. Creating a bill tracks what you owe—whether or not you’ve paid it yet. Bills are better for planning and reporting. Checks are better for quick record-keeping. Check out When should I create a bill? to learn more.

Q: What if the deposit is part of a check bundle and the amount is larger than the recorded check?

A: No problem—you can still clear your recorded check by matching it to the larger check bundle transaction. In Ledger, the matched check and the remaining unmatched amount will both appear as line items beneath the posted deposit.

Q: Am I able to see my available balance, factoring in outstanding checks?

A: You’ll be able to soon with our upcoming Account Register view! For now, to estimate your available balance, subtract the total of your Outstanding Checks from the book balance of your bank account. You can find both these balances on the Accounts page.